Verizon's sale of $49 billion of bonds nearly tripled the previous record, held by Apple, for the largest corporate-debt sale.

Verizon (ticker: VZ) on Wednesday sold $49 billion of bonds. Not only did that demolish the record for biggest corporate-debt sale, but it nearly tripled it. And the previous record holder was no slouch: It was Apple (AAPL), which issued $17 billion of debt in April. Even that deal isn't a true comparison, Barclays credit strategists note, as Apple had no prior bonds...